Little Falls transcript., 1887-02-25
"Well, it's better to do that, said

" GIL, u B U6LC6r 10 90 C0aC, SalC
the incorrigible girs. ''than nothing al
all. Now tell me did dance well?"
'Like little flame. Yes, l must
admit that you danced like a. ball O
fre-like a golden butterfly on tn,
wind"
II don't know how we'll that would
te. But that's the way like to hea,
you talk; so I'll reward you. Lool
here"
It was q basket of the most supert
orchids that I ever saw, O. priceless
affair, from which she drew the scar
she had thrown over it.
with MIR. Donrobin' 8 compliments
Eh? He has seen me, you see."
"Well, them
"Well, then, this morning Jeannettt
Dean is gong to mount her hunte,
and leap five barred gates and things
I shall let her do it. And
Laura Stockwood is going to
drive into town shopping; she'll &C
alone. And Elsa and Caro- are going tc
the woods; let them go. lam going tc
find Mr.. Dunrobin ond thank him Just
as sweetly and modestly as a li.tlt
milkmaid-I do write such g. bac
hand! And then Pm going to get my
water colors and 60 out on those rocks
Then Pm coming up to read with yor
that means get q nap, and ther
lunch. And after that drive with
Mr.. Vonderbust and later I sail with
Mr.. Kilgore, and then it's dinner, anc
then talking and promenading on thu
piazza, and then the concert anC
dancing and supper. That's well
then And tomorrow there's thu
archery and the picnic to the Wells
and the yachting out to Red Rec
Light"
For gracious sake, Bette, day aft
er day, it will kill you!'
"You can't stop. You have to kee1
it up. Stay to rest, and you're likt
the dead man in a battle the Others
will walk over your body"
"Does it pay you really, Bettie?"
ut will pay. Don't you know how
love ease, beauty, splendor, luxury
fine houses, equipages. gardens, pic
lures, laces, jewels, bank accountst
Well, that is what I play for. My lit
tie pittance would board me in q
country town. had rather die. Sc
l throw it all at one toss-heads
win, tails you lose. shall have not
a basket of orchids, but an orchid.
house. l was made for 1T all. I per-
ish in any other atmosphere It isn't
like girl that wants money merely
for the sake OF money. want it fo1
the sake Of living, living my own life. "
1t was Mr. .Dunrobin with whom Bet
tie was promenading the piazza that
evening after dinner and before the
concert and the dancing. He wasn't
a dancing man; he was only a million
alre, we'll born and educated-a quiet
middle aged gentleman Of unassumine
manners. She flashed me a. glance as
she passed that might have put ont
the evening star. He sat beside her at
the concert; he went with her next
morning to the archery; herode beside
her all the way to the Wells; he sat
beside her as they sailed to the Red
Reef Light. He walked with her the
next day after dinner; but this time
they stepped down and away from
the lighted piazza, down the peb-
bly, walk, down the rocks, and
out on the sands and along the
beach in the starlight. When Bette
came in she was drenched with dew;
but she looked divinely happy--too
dlvlnely happy to notice the dark dis
approval on the brows of all the
mammas.
And the next morning Mr.. Dunrobin
was gone-he and his trunks and his
horses and his yacot and his man. 1t
was a little yellow wreck OF Bette
that came into my room and threw
herself face down on the lounge and
sobbed out the story.
"Well," said, soothingly, feeling it
no time for a homily, and pitying the
little wretch for all, "there are plenty
left.''
"There's nobody!" she cried.
There's nobody! I'd just as lief you
knewit as not. I-I--1love him! And
o, the worst of this is, l deserve it!
But I can't let these people see. !
must go on just the same. I'll put a
little rouge on. My hearts broken.
I'm dead. dead, dead. shall look in
the glass while I'm doing it, though,
and say to myself. And, Bette, give
this cheek a touch OF red; one need
not, sure, look ugly, though ones
dead. But let me hide there this
morning. Have you any rouge?"
No one would believe that Bette
was disappointed, broken-hearted,
dead or anything Of the sort that
night. She was recklessly, desperate.
ly gay. Dancing on the edge of the
volcano, she called it. And so she
was the next night, and the next, and
for week running, till all the chap
erons in the house were getting wild
about her and e1postulating with me
and that was the wayI learned that
l was supposed to be her chaperon
and / couldn't think where it
would end. And then she went to bed
sick for a couple of days, and Isaid to
myself that this was the end, anyway.
And then, one morning, when thought
she was in bed still, and was just get
ting ready to 90 and see her, she burst
into my room, radiant, rosy as a
peach, fresh as a. new-blown flower
and caught me, and covered my old
face with caresses. 80, l must kiss
somebody's" cried she. "And he isn't
here. And I must tell you. I can't
let anybody see it, actually see it, it's
too precious!'
And it was g. letter from Mr.. Dun
robin; and in it he told frankly that
he had run away from her, ifshe chose
to call it SO, because he felt there would
be no happiness for him, or her eithe,
in a marriage with such a difference in
age and taste, and temperament.
And now he had discovered there
could be NO happiness without it.
And he was coming back to learn his
fate.
'.O?' she cried, bursting into tears,
"it's perfectly dreadful that I'm &C
wicked. I'm not fit for him! I don't
Il b. =,